As a small business owner, you should know that your invoice is
part of your branding. It needs to look good because it represents your
business.

Your invoice also needs to be clear. There should be no
question about how much you are billing for or how your client should pay you.

An unclear invoice could create unnecessary payment delays. It can also waste
your time as the client tries to contact you with their questions.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to make a professional
invoice using an MS Word invoice template. I’ll start by listing the
elements of a good invoice. Next, I’ll take you through the step-by-step
process of how to make an invoice in Word. Finally, I’ll share some resources where you can
find your own Word invoice templates.

Elements of a Good Invoice

Creating an invoice is useless if the invoice isn’t
informative and helpful. In fact, an unprofessional invoice could be worse than
unhelpful. It could confuse or upset your client. Here are some important elements
of good invoices. Your invoice should:

contain the right information

have a professional appearance

be sent in a timely fashion

You can learn more about the basics of how to
create an invoice in this post:

Avoid Common Invoice Design Mistakes

Haphazard Typos – Avoid using an invoice that is too casual such as the body of an email
or slip of paper. Likewise, you don’t want to use a sloppy invoice with typos
and other mistakes.

Too Many Colors – Also, choose colors and fonts that are appropriate for your business.
Too many bright colors that don’t work with your branding will make your
invoice look bad. Likewise, using too many fonts is often an unprofessional
choice.

Cluttered Spacing – The right amount of white space is important and will make
your invoice more readable. Remember: A cluttered invoice is a confusing invoice.

Lack of Focus – An unfocused invoice looses you money. You want the critical parts of your invoice, like the payment due, to stand out immediately on your invoice. Hierarchy is important to draw the eye to these details, so your clients know what, when, where, and how to pay you.

Your client is likely to save your invoice in their files. The
next time they need to order similar services, they may use your invoice to get
your contact information. So, the impression your invoice makes can be a
lasting one. Your invoice needs to look sharp and professional.

Use a Professional Invoice Template Design

You may not be able to afford a graphic designer to make a custom invoice, but a good invoice template is inexpensive (between $5 to $9) and can help you create a
professional-looking invoice in minutes.

These invoice templates have clear designs, ability to customize them quickly to your small business brand, and get them off to your clients and collecting payments professionally.

3. A Good Invoice Is Timely

When should you invoice your client?

The answer may seem obvious. In most cases, invoice when the
work is complete. But pay attention to any prior agreements you made with the
client. For example, if you have agreed to invoice the client once a month,
then follow through on your agreement.

Surprisingly, some small business owners are hesitant to
send out invoices. They may send their invoice days or even weeks after the
project is complete.

Avoid doing that. Late invoices mean late payments. Clients expect you to invoice them for services rendered. So, send your invoices out in a timely fashion.

Now let’s look at how to make your own invoice.

How to Make an Invoice With MS Word

You can use a template to create a professional-looking
invoice with Word. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you create your own
invoices:

Step 1. Gather Your Information

To make sure that you won’t leave anything out of your
invoice, make a list of what information you want to include. Here are some
places to look for invoice information:

Client Proposal – The client proposal includes a description of the work, payment
amount, and terms.

Client’s Business Card – The client’s business card has their contact information.

Your Business Card – The invoice is part of your branding and should fit with
your other branded materials.

Your Prior Invoices – Your prior invoice includes the most recent invoice number. Your next invoice should follow it sequentially.

Once you’ve gathered your invoice information, you’re ready
to start.

In this example, I’ll use a Word template to create an
invoice for Anytown Consulting, the company we first saw in this tutorial:

In this new example, Anytown Consulting has created an ebook
cover design for Jane Doe. The simple invoice we’ll be creating is for an ebook cover design and some
meeting time. You can follow this same process to create invoices for your clients.

Step 2. Download the Best Professional Invoice Template for Your Needs

Once you know what your invoice needs to include, select theright Word invoice template. I used this invoice template from Envato Market because it has a
clean, professional feel. You should choose the invoice template that’s right for your business needs.

After you download the invoice invoice, open Windows File
Explorer and double-click the invoice template file to open it. The file has a
.zip extension:

Open the Word invoice template Zip file.

Click on the subfolder, main files. To choose the color that goes with your logo,double-click on the folder for the color you want to use. The template I chose
comes with five color schemes:

Choose the invoice template file that fits your color scheme best.

Each color scheme is in its own folder. I chose the blue
invoice color scheme because that goes best with my logo. Double-click on the
folder to open it and the template files for that color scheme display:

Open the blue Word invoice template.

To open the Word template, double-click on the file with.docx extension. The invoice template appears in Protected View:

The invoice template opened in Word Protected View.

In Protected View, most editing features are turned off. We
want to customize the template for our small business, so we need the editing
features available. So, we are going to turn Protected View off.

To enable normal editing features and turn Protected View off, click the Enable Editing button on the right of
the yellow bar at the top of the window. You are now ready to begin customizing
the template.

Step 3. Personalize Your Invoice

Once you’ve downloaded the template, make it your own by customizing
it. Before we start, though, it’s a good idea to save the template file under a
different name so that you can return to the original template if you ever want
to use it again.

Now you are ready to personalize your invoice. Start by
replacing the logo.

1. Replace the Logo

To replace the logo, click the box on the left of the
template that says “Logo place here.” You’ll see handles around the box:

Select the “Logo Place here” box.

If necessary, use the handles around the logo placeholder to
resize the space for the logo. (Note: The handles look like hollow dots.)

Click the Insertoption from the menu at the top of the window. Now click the Pictures icon to select your logo file
from your computer. Your screen should look something like this:

Click the Pictures icon and select your logo file.

Select the logo file you want to add to your invoice. Click
the Insert button on the bottom
right of the File Explorer window.
The logo is added to your invoice:

Insert your logo into your invoice.

If necessary, use the handles at the corners of the logo to
resize the logo image to fit the invoice. (Note: If you use the other handles, you
will distort your logo.)

Now you can also erase the placeholder by changing the fill color
to white. To do this, select the placeholder. Right-click to bring up a pop-up
menu:

Change the text in each cell by selecting it (i.e. highlighting
it) and typing over it. Be careful not to select multiple cells at the same
time.

The dollar figures under the Time Price column and the Cost
column are also text. You can change them by typing over them as well.

Don’t forget to change the Subtotal, Tax, and Total figures.
They are not automatically calculated in this invoice template in Word.

In this example, there is no client discount, so I deleted that table row using the process described earlier.

4. Finalize Your
Invoice

Your invoice should look pretty good right now. Take a moment
to make sure that all the fields are correct. Don’t forget to change the Total
Purchase figure in the upper right of the invoice. This is a text field.

It’s a good idea to proofread your entire invoice at this time.
Look for misspellings in the client’s name or address and other typos.

If you’ve changed the invoice a lot, you may also need to
reposition some of the text fields. To do this, select the text field (you should
see the handles) and drag it to where you want it to be.

Your finished invoice should look something like this:

Final customized MS Word invoice design.

Note: I used the version of Word from Office 365 to create this invoice. If you have an earlier version of word, your steps may be slightly different.

Make Your Own Professional Invoice Today

Your invoices are important to your small business. A
professional invoice makes a good impression with your customers and helps you get paid promptly. An unprofessional invoice can cause confusion and delay
payment.